Outlook It has taken just weeks for investigators at Olympus, the Japanese camera manufacturer, to uncover a scam that goes back two decades. Michael Woodford, the British businessman who ran the company until a few weeks ago – he says he was fired for asking too many questions – has been vindicated.

We do not yet have full details of what took place at Olympus, or what scale of loss has been hidden from shareholders. Nor have the individuals responsible for the deception been identified. But once the third party inquiry commissioned by Olympus reports back, it is hard to see how Olympus' entire board can avoid following the lead of the directors who have lost their jobs already. Either they were complicit or they failed to ask the right questions. Neither is forgivable, especially given the way they ousted the chief executive when he sought to blow the whistle for them.